Friday, August 24, 2012

First, before ugly rumors get started, there is NO HDJ Death Match curse. It is complete happenstance that three of the HDJs in our contest closed down before a winner could be decided. Or at least that's what we said last week. Then, lightning struck again when, the very next day after they won the semifinal round against Sam's Hot Dog Stand on Hale Street, Sister Act Cafe on Capitol Street went belly up. The latest casualty, however, caused us to rethink the possible existence of a curse, and it also posed a great problem for us here at WVHotDogs.com; namely, how can we move forward with crowning an unimpeachable champion with this kind of controversy mucking up our process? Do we roll back the contest and allow Sam's to compete with Swiftwater Cafe for all the marbles? That really didn't seem fair, because Sam's didn't beat ANYBODY in the tournament. The only competitor they faced was the aforementioned Sister Act and were defeated handily.

Seafood place or not, TFSC has a great dog!

After a week of hand wringing and brow furrowing, we decided that the most equitable solution was to have an elimination match between Sam's and the first HDJ that lost to Sister Act, The Fresh Seafood Company. So presented for your approval (or not) a Special Eat-Off to decide who faces the top seed.

This match up provides an opportunity to decide between two very different HDJs; On the one hand, Sam's Hot Dog Stand is - as its name says - a hot dog stand. The Fresh Seafood Company - as its name implies - is a seafood place. It would seem natural for the hot dog stand to win at what would seem to be its own game. If we were judging fish and chips, it would follow that TFSC would have a leg up. But - as they say - in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but not in practice. The practical truth of this matter is that TFSC has some really good hot dogs. It is not known whether Sam's has good fish, or any fish for that matter.

So who wins?

The strength of Sam's is in its chili; in fact, when it comes to the Hale Street location, that might be its only strength. Sam's Hale Street location always seems to have stale buns and waterlogged weenies. Its slaw is consistently average. Sam's Chili is slightly better that Fresh Seafood Company's offering, but that's the only category it wins.

TFSC has better slaw, better bun, better weenie and good chili. The only downside is that I have to assemble the dang thing myself; and that's not an insignificant problem!

So the contest comes down to negatives and which HDJ has the fewest. That would be The Fresh Seafood Company. They are resurrected to face the top seed in our tournament, Swiftwater Cafe.

We intentionally narrowed the field by limiting this tourney to the downtown HDJs. We still have the West Side Death Matches to come and then a few outlying HDJs to throw into the mix. We'll get to Huntington eventually.

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Welcome to the W.Va. Hot Dog Blog!

This blog contains Hot Dog Joint reviews from around West Virginia and serves as a discussion board for those reviews, as well as providing a space for general discussion of West Virginia Hot Dogs.

What Is A West Virginia Hot Dog?

A true West Virginia hot dog is a heavenly creation that begins with a wiener on a soft steamed bun. Add mustard, a chili-like sauce and top it off with coleslaw and chopped onions and you have a symphony of taste that quite possibly is the reason that many transplanted West Virginians can never really be happy living anywhere else. Different parts of West Virginia have variations on the theme but the common elements are sweet, creamy coleslaw and chili. Anything else is just not a true West Virginia hot dog!